White House to call progressive, Hispanic members

The White House is arranging a series of conference calls with congressional Democrats to lobby them on authorizing a U.S. strike in Syria.

The White House will hold calls with the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a Democratic aide confirmed. Additional calls with other groups are also being organized, the aide said.

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While House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) have both endorsed Obama’s request, there is unlikely to be enough Republican support for military action in the chamber to obtain passage. A significant number of Democrats will be needed to gain final passage of such a measure.